The showcase will include work from 44 student members, and demonstrate the extensive breadth of work being undertaken by students primarily from Wellington.

The NZVRARA Student Chapter was formed in mid-2017 and is driven by NZVRARA Executive Director, Courteney Lomas.

“Our student members primarily come from the two on-campus VR Clubs we’ve formed this year at Massey University (VRTX) and Victoria University (Looking Glass),” says Ms Lomas. “The concept of forming on-campus interdisciplinary clubs and supporting these students with NZVRARA Student Membership has worked extremely well and the NZVRARA is proud to support their work.”

Ms Lomas encourages commercial users and the industry’s creators of virtual and augmented reality solutions to come and see what the students have been working on this year.

“These students are the future of our industry; our interns, graduate employees and a deep pool of ideas to fuel the growth of New Zealand’s VR/AR sector,” says Ms Lomas. “In 2018, we expect to bring in members from other New Zealand centres, particularly the Auckland institutions of AUT, Media Design School and Auckland University.”

Managing Director for Wellington-based VR company Blackeye is highly supportive of the exploratory work undertaken by the graduates.

“We’re delighted to step in and play our part to support our sector,” says Mr Gregg. “A recent survey identified an approaching VR/AR skills shortage, so it’s important we encourage undergraduate students from across disciplines to access these new immersive technologies and build strong capability with a range of cross reality applications.”